THE FOUNDERS OF OHIO BRIEF SKETCHES 0}' TUE FORTY-EIGHT PIONEERS WHO, UNDER COM::\iAND OF GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM LANDED AT THE MOUTH OF THE )lUSKINGUlI RIVER ON THE SEVEN'rH OF APRIL, 1788 AND COMMENCED THE .FIRST \VHITE SETTLEl\IENT IN THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY CINCINNATI ROBERT CLARKE & CO 1888 In the preparation of these sketches the author has freely used the ex­ cellent historical works of Dr. S. P. Hildreth, "Pioneer History" and "Lives of the Early Settlers of Ohio.'' Some facts were obtained from the "History of Washington County, Ohio," some from the "History of Danvers, Massa­ chusetts," and many from unpublished manuscripts. COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY ROBERT CLARKE & Co. THE FOUNDERS. rThc Founders of Ohio lauded from their bo:it, the Mayflower, at Marietta, April 7, liSS, and established the first English settlement in the :North-western Territory. Oyo wu:s the Indian name of the Ohio.] The footsteps of a hundred years Have echoed, since o'er Bradr.lock's Road, Bold Putnan1 and the Pioneers Led History the way they strode. On wild :M:onongahela's strean1 They launched the 1',fayflower of the \Vest, A perfect State their civic dream, A new X ew "\V orld thefr pilgrim quest. "\Vhen April robed the Buckeye trees l\fuskingun1's bosky shore they trod; They pitched their tent, and to the breeze Flung freedom's star-flag, thanking God. As glides the Oyo's solemn flood Their generation fleeted on; Our veins are tluilling with their blood, But they, the Pioneers, are gone. Though storied tombs niay not enshrine The dust of our illustrious sires, Behold, where monumental shine Proud Marietta's votive spires. Ohio carves and consecrates In her own heart their every naine; The Founders of majestic States­ Their epitaph-in1mortal fa1ne. -,v. H. YEx.\BLE. (iii) INDEX. Barlow, ,Jabez, ]7 Bushnell, Daniel, ~7 Coburn, Phineas, 19 Cooper, Ezekiel, 8 Corey, Ebenezer, ]7 Cu~hing, Samuel, 21 Cutler, ,Jervis, ] :2 Danton, lsrael, 27 Davi:-:;, Daniel, ~I Davis, ,Jonas, 15 Devol, Allen, 2:) Devol, Gilbert, ,Jr., ~5 Devol, ,Jonathan, 23 Dodge, Isaac, ]3 Dodge, Oliver, 23 Felshaw, Samuel, 19 Flint, H ezekjah, 18 Fliet: Hezekiah, ,Jr., i8 Foster, Peregrine, . 17 Gardner, .John, 11 Gray, \V illiam, JU Griswold, Benjamin, "27 Kirtland. Elizur, 27 Learned, Theophilus, 19 Lincoln, ,Joseph, ...,_,9•) :Martin, Simeon, 13 J\1ason, ,Villiam, .......•)•) l\Ia.thews, ,John, 26 Maxon, Henry, 14 Meigs, Return ,Jonathan, 27 J\1iller, ,villiam, 27 Moulton, Ed1nund, 14 Moulton, \Villiam, 14 J\1unro, ,T osiah, 20 Porter, Amos, 9 Putnam, Allen, 9 Putnam, Jethro, 9 Putnam, Rufus, 7 Shaw, Benjamin, 21 Sproat, Earl, 18 Sproat, Ebenezer 15 Tupper, Anselm, 26 ,v allis, David, 18 "\Velis, Joseph, 8 "\Vhite, Hatfield, 8 \Vhite, Josiah, 27 \Vhite, Peletiah, 8 \V hitridge, Josiah, 9 A TRIBUTE TO THE lVIE~IORY OF TIIE FOUNDERS OF OHIO. A FLEET of boats arrived at the n1outh of the ~1nskingun1 April 7, 1788, "consisting of the Union Galley, of forty­ five tons bnrden, designed to pass and rcpasR bet,Yeen this (Mnskingurn) and Buffitlo, or Short Creek, to bring do\vn settlers; the Adel phi ferry boat, burden three tons, for the use of the settlers at the Post; and three log canoes of different sizes."* The :fleet \Vas under the con1n1and of General Rufus Putnam, and conveyed to this point the brave an<l energetic band of pioneers, forty-eight in n um­ ber, ,vhose mission it ,:vas to plant a Ch ristia,11 eivilization i u the n1idst of a savage \Yil<lerncss, ,v bere they expected to make their hon1es. The directors of the Ohio Com­ pany, under whose auspiees they came out, had pur­ chased of Congress a million and a-half acres of land, and proposed to begin the occupancy of their territory by plant­ ing a city at the rnouth of the ~fuskingurn. 'ro eff'eet this purpose a body of picked n1eu ,vas engaged. The first detachment of these left Danvers, Massachusetts, Decern­ ber 3, 1787; the second ,vent frorn Hartford, Connecticut, January 1, 1788. They ,vere to n1eet at Sumrell's ferry, on the Yonghiogheny river, aud then proceed by ,vater to their destination. Many of these first ad venturers ,vere share-holders in the Ohio Company, and \Vise]y desired to see the country before rernoving ,vith their fan1ilies into a region so far in advance of population, and \vhere danger n1ight well be apprehended. Great care ·was taken to admit none but respectable characters, "vho 1vould make valuable rnen1bers * Letter of Gen. Putnam to Dr. Cutler. V 6 The JJiemory of the Founders of Ohio. of the con1mnnity about to be established. In a n1en10- randum book of Dr. 1Iana~seh Cutler, one of the directors of the Ohio Company, is a list of thirty-seven n1en engaged "to go into the Ohio Country, if wanted." T\venty of those ~:rho came ,vere selected from this list; among them, three carpenters and t,vo Llacksrniths, a class of n1en best calculated to build up the projected city, and ,vithout ,vhom no civilized community could long exist. Dr. Cutler ,vrites to Major Sargent, on September 29, 1787: '' More than one hundred and fifty have applied to rne to go this autnn1n on the terms ,ve agreed on at the last n1eeting. They have aln1ost refused to take a denial. The n1en I have engaged are equal to any I ,vould have chosen." The winter of 1787-8 \Yas one of uncon1n1on severity, and the sno,v· on the rnou ntains they ,vere obliged to traverse ,vas of such unusual depth that the n1en ,vho left Danvers in charge of Major I-Iaflield White had to abandon their ,vagons and collstruct siedges to transport their tools and baggage over the Alleghanies, and it ,vas near the last of January, after a most fatiguing n1arch, that they arrived at Sun1rell's ferry. The party from Hartford, conducted by Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, found the mountain roads ineun1bered by a recent heavy fall of sno,v, three feet deep. They also left their "·agons, an<l ·with their horses in single file, attached to stout sleds, pre­ ceded by the n1en on foot to break a track for the tea1ns, passed the monntai n range~ after t,vo ,veeks of inces­ sant labor and a n1arch which for hardy endnrance and heroic fortitude has uot been often equaled. They reache<l the Youghiogheny on the 14th of ],ebruary. General Put­ nam found of the first party a nun1 ber ill ,vith srnall-pox, and the savv-n1ills frozeu up. It ,vas six ,veeks before the flotilla ,vas completed that \Vas to carry them to the M uskingun1. "\Vho \Vere these n1en who n1ade their way.. across the mountains through the pathless sno,v in mid \vinter, and fonnd themselves, ,vithout a roof to shelter then1, that April n1orning one hundred years ago on the spot where 1Io.rietta. no,v stands? Are not their very names forgotten by the present generation ? And yet the records of the The 1Uem,ory of the Jf'ounders of Ohio. past give evidence that n1any of then1 are worthy of being held in lasting ren1embrance. The follo,ving items, gleane(l from authentic sources, give an epitome of the personal history of the forty-eight as far as a careful investigation of historical records at hand ·will afford. Doubtless other interesting facts may be added. General Rufus Patna1n, the leader of this band of pioneers, ,vas appointed by the directors of the Ohio Company No­ ven1ber 23, 1787, "Superintendent of all the business re­ lating to the settlernent of their lands in the Territory N orth-,vest of the Ohio." His n1ilitary record is thus given by the ~1assachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, of vvhich he ,Yas a 1nen1ber. " Rufus Putnam. Born Sutton, ~1assach usetts, ..A.pril 9, 1738; died }Iarietta, Ohio, May 4, 1824; a n1ill-wright; a private soldier in the campaigns 1757-60, h1 Canada; then settled in New Braintree, i\lassa­ chusetts; Lieutenant-Colonel in Bre\ver's Regin1ent May, 1775; en1ployed as an engineer in constructing the siege \Vorks arou11d Boston; chief eugineer of the defenses of New York in 1776 · Colonel Au 0 ·u~t 5 1776 and con1- ' .::,'-'' ' 1nanded the 5th Regiment until con1n1issione<l Brigadier- General January 7, 178B; distinguished hirnself at Sara­ toga; aide to General Lincoln in quelling Sh2.y's rebe1iion ; one of the founders of jfarietta, Ohio, in 1788; appointe<l a judge in the North-,vestern Territory, 1789; re-appointed Brigadier-General ~lay 4, 1792; United States Surveyor­ General 1793-1803; ~le1nber of Ohio Constitutional Con­ vention, 1802." Ilis n1ilitary record, his services as a Judge and Surveyor-General of the l 1nitecl States, his bra•.:ery, good judgment, aud unqnestioned integrity are too ,vell kno,vn to require conuuent. lie \Yas a director of the Ohio Compauy, in ,vbich he owned five shares of land. Ile laid the foundations at 11arietta, vv~here be spent the re­ mainder of his life honore<l and beloved. In bis eighty­ seventh year he ,vas called to his re,vard, au<l his remains were reverently laiJ to rest in the 11ound Uen1ctery. Ile left nurnerous and ,vorthv., descendants. The Life of Rufus Putnam, prepared by Mary Cone was pu blishecl 1880. 8 The M ernory o.f the Founders of Ohio. 111ajor 1-Iaffield lVhite ,vas appointed by the directors of the Ohio Cornpany con1n11ssary and conductor of the first party of pioneers ,vho left Danvers, December 3, 1787, and shared ,vith them the labor and suffering attending the long n1arcb over the sno,v-clacl mountains of Pennsylvania.